The Brightest Lights Make the Deepest Shadows
by Anne Camp aka Obi-quiet
Summary: Sidious watched Obi-wan's strategies - his gains and losses in battle - and realized he'd overlooked a gem. Anakin was a super-nova, but Kenobi managed to be a Quasar, if not in power, then in his sheer light. He burned so brightly and somehow didn't burn out... He knew those with the capacity for the greatest good had the same capacity for evil. And Palpatine couldn't allow that.


Warning: Unbeta'd. It's just what came to me in between work and demanded to be written down. You've been warned

xXx

When Sheev Palpatine first saw Obi-Wan Kenobi, he saw what he saw in most young knights: a boy, barely out of childhood struggling to keep up with the world around him. Oh, he had potential (as all Force-sensitives did), but he was so blindingly light. It would take time and effort to corrupt him, and that was just something he didn't have. He'd already been working on Dooku for decades, subtly, and would be getting his pay-off soon.

He remembered one of the former Vice Chancellors, one Sano Sarro, having practically been obsessed with the boy, for some reason, but honestly, he couldn't really see why. So he did what he did with most Jedi by making a mental note and put the boy out of his mind.

Not days later, he realized he'd have to reclassify him as a potential obstacle as he happened to be the master to Palpatine's future apprentice: the Chosen One. The boy would be his, and so he decided to keep a closer eye on Kenobi.

It really wasn't that difficult to undermine the young knight's teachings. He'd been so obviously attached to his master that he just wasn't in the right head-space to give this newly freed slave what he needed, which gave the Chancellor an opening. So he played the doting grandfather and once again, began to subtly undermine the Knight's teachings.

Over the years, he saw Anakin grow from a head-strong child to a head-strong, rebellious teenager, and he began to also understand what Sarro had seen in Obi-wan Kenobi. The man was a fast study, and while he could self deny better than just about anyone Sidious had met, he was also someone who tended to think outside the box and come up with impossible solutions. The Sith had never met anyone who could escape death traps like this Knight, and that only became more truthful when Anakin finally joined him in the field.

While Anakin became easier to manipulate as he grew older, Obi-wan became harder and harder to manipulate. Oh, it wasn't impossible, not by a long shot, and his growing attachment to his padawan was plain as the nose n his face. But he was so earnest and trying to hard to be the perfect Jedi that the Council allowed it. And, again, Sidious took advantage of it, pointing out the knight's virtues while suggesting that it wasn't Anakin's path. That, at least, was true. Anakin's path lay with the Sith, and always would.

It was really when the Clone wars came around and Dooku's own small obsession with Kenobi came to light that Sidious seriously considered turning him. He'd be a powerful ally, after all, and would likely make an excellent red-guard if he could gain the man's loyalty.

He continued to watch the man's strategies and his gains and losses in the war and began to realize that he'd overlooked a gem in the making. Obi-wan Kenobi had a sharp mind and he never seemed to stop learning. Give him motivation, and he became a steady force of nature that almost perfectly balanced out Anakin's wilder tactics.

About a year into the war, Sidious suddenly realized that he could not allow Obi-wan Kenobi to Fall. The Jedi had just pulled off another miracle victory without Anakin even there beside him, and the Chancellor had been looking over the report, marveling at just _how_ he'd managed to pull this off when the realization hit him: If Obi-wan Kenobi ever became a Sith, Palpatine would likely be gone within the year... if it would take him that long.

Anakin was a super-nova, but somehow, Kenobi managed to be a Quasar, if not in power, then in his sheer light. He burned so brightly and somehow kept it going... and the brightest lights always cast the deepest shadows. Those with the capacity for the most good always had the capacity for the greatest evil... and judging by Kenobi's light, his shadows would likely overtake even Palpatine's.

It was a foreign thought, but Sidious – unlike Kenobi – was not in the habit of lying to himself. If Kenobi Fell, it would be the end of Sidious, and Anakin would gravitate to his old master far more easily...

So Palpatine came to the conclusion that he had to do everything he could to stop Kenobi's Fall.

He almost didn't succeed.

Multiple times.

But, at the end, when he reached Mustafar and felt a dimmed but still strong Kenobi leave the system – leave Vader's burning body behind – he knew he'd succeeded.

And, in all honesty, that was, perhaps, the greatest victory of all.


End file.
